Verizon, AT&T, Dish Network, T-Mobile US, Comcast and Liberty Global, among 104 companies, are in the race to buy spectrum during the auction for airwaves this year, said Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
The next round of spectrum auction will start on 29 March.
FCC officials have called the auction a “once in a lifetime” opportunity for TV companies to take in a payout and in many cases stay on the air by switching to new frequencies.
Sprint, a part of the SoftBank group, will not be participating in the spectrum auction. Telecoms are aiming to spend billions to spruce up their mobile Internet networks in the U.S.
During the spectrum auction in 2015, telecoms and cable companies spent $44.9 billion in bids and FCC attracted applications from 80 companies.
Bloomberg reports that the Congressional Budget Office has estimated that this year’s auction will bring in between $10 billion and $40 billion, with an expected value of $25 billion, after TV station owners have been paid.
